ACE Ski & Board Meeting, Monday Sept 15th

[billski]

ACE Ski & Board Club Meeting, Monday Sept 15th

First meeting of the year, in Westford, Massachusetts
Monday, September 15, 6:30pm

* Matt Lillard from Magic mountain to present a slide show of what's new and exciting. Standby for a ticket raffle!

* Stefan from Zimmerman's Ski and Sport with what's new in gear

* Club ticket and gear raffle

We've grown 40% in one year, come meet new and old members.

http://www.aceskiandboardclub.org/

 

[BeanoNYC]

I'm still a bit pissy at ace because my pre-ticket sale letter came a day before it ended.

 

[deadheadskier]

I'm still a bit pissy at ace because my pre-ticket sale letter came a day before it ended.

that sucks

......my first year with them and there are a few thinks I'd like to see ironed out.


1. Communication.....shouldn't have to join yahoo groups, should just be a master list email

2. Payment handling.......it took nearly 30 days for my deposit check for tickets to be deposited, somewhat annoying and in this day and age of identity theft, not cool

3. Communication.......no verification that I will be receiving the tickets that I ordered

.....I'd like to make the meeting, we'll see where my work travels have me on that day.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

2. Payment handling.......it took nearly 30 days for my deposit check for tickets to be deposited, somewhat annoying and in this day and age of identity theft, not cool

Just my rant but holding on to a check for more than a week or so is one of the rudest things. My old landlord would sometimes go 6 weeks without cashing my rent check. I just feel that it's good etiquette to cash checks in a timely manner as a courtesy..

Are the $48 tickets for Stowe good anytime??? I would join the club simply to take advantage of that..

 

[deadheadskier]

Just my rant but holding on to a check for more than a week or so is one of the rudest things. My old landlord would sometimes go 6 weeks without cashing my rent check. I just feel that it's good etiquette to cash checks in a timely manner as a courtesy..

Are the $48 tickets for Stowe good anytime??? I would join the club simply to take advantage of that..

Blacked out Holiday weeks, which I believe is the case with all Vermont areas

I picked up

(1) Stowe $48
(2) Smuggs $40
(2) MRG $56
(2) Pico $64
(1) Burke $32
Membership $20

so, 8 tickets for $260, pretty good deal at $32.50 a day average. I was going to pick up a second Stowe ticket, but am hoping the mountain does a club appreciation weekend again like last year, which worked out to around the same cost.

 

[billski]

As a member of the ACE club, I do appreciate and agree with some of your comments, especially regarding responsiveness. The club is entirely manned by volunteers and has a wide range of activities, with tickets just being a small part. I've passed your comments along to the Ticket Committee, which most of the comments are directed.

The "Ticket Committee" consists of two people, who process thousands of tickets and invest hundreds of their own personal hours to accomplish this task. Every year they ask for volunteer to assist them, and every year they get no takers. They have hit their max bandwidth and it's this reason that current members tolerate this sort operation. If this was for-profit, it would be an entirely different matter.

So I'm encouraging to help them out. Seems to me facilitating communications would be a snap to do remotely in this internet age. PM me if you are willing to help.

Remember, if they don't get more help, it will probably remain operating the way it does.

 

[madskier6]

Blacked out Holiday weeks, which I believe is the case with all Vermont areas

I picked up

(1) Stowe $48
(2) Smuggs $40
(2) MRG $56
(2) Pico $64
(1) Burke $32
Membership $20

so, 8 tickets for $260, pretty good deal at $32.50 a day average. I was going to pick up a second Stowe ticket, but am hoping the mountain does a club appreciation weekend again like last year, which worked out to around the same cost.

$64 for a 1 day ticket to Pico? That seems high for discount bulk tickets. I can't imagine regularly priced tickets at Pico are much more than that. $56 for MRG also doesn't seem like much of a discount. Maybe a few bucks off.

The other prices are very good though. Did you have to buy the Pico & MRG at those prices in order to get the cheaper prices at the other places?

BTW, I'm not badmouthing ACE. It seems like a good club. Just saying those prices seem high for ski club tickets that you have to commit in June for. I'm sure you'll enjoy them anyway.

 

[deadheadskier]

No, $32 for the Pico, $20 for Smuggs, $28 for MRG, $48 for Stowe and $32 for Burke. I guess it could read like $64 for a single day as the number in parenthesis doesn't clearly define it.

 

[madskier6]

No, $32 for the Pico, $20 for Smuggs, $28 for MRG, $48 for Stowe and $32 for Burke. I guess it could read like $64 for a single day as the number in parenthesis doesn't clearly define it.

Oops. My bad. Never mind. :smile:

 

[billski]

ACE isn't a lowest-cost ticket broker, it's a club that sells tickets. There is some margin built into the ticket prices to support ACE club activities like raffles (skis, boots, boards, amounting to thousands of dollars), food, event venues and the general club overhead incurred. If what you want is lowest cost tickets only, then perhaps there's a better suited venue for y ou such as the online ticket brokers.

 

[madskier6]

Lowest cost was not my point. Those prices are damn good. Tough to beat those. I mistakenly thought they were twice as much as they actually were since I didn't notice the numbers in parentheses in DHS's post. My mistake.

I wouldn't pass those prices up just to save a couple of bucks if the club is good. It sure looks like ACE is a good club.

 

[billski]

1. Communication.....shouldn't have to join yahoo groups, should just be a master list email

Don't see the problem with joining Yahoo groups. You can use Yahoo groups just as a PDL server: subscribe your email address. You don't even need a Yahoo ID for basic functions.

Many users have asked to opt out of email distributions, they don't like the "junk mail." I'd prefer to let them self-manage their subscription rather than burden volunteers with one more task of list maintenace

 

[billski]

ACE announced last night that there will be a second ticket mail sale in early October.

BTW, the presentation by Matt Lillard of Magic was really over-the top. Lots of interest by people who had "never head of the place". Lots of great ticket giveaways. Sounds like a bunch of "selective pruning" has been underway.

It's amazing how many people know of so few areas. Good buzz. I think I'm going to have to invite Burkie to a meeting. We've got Saddleback coming to speak next month and have some discount tix for Magic remaining.

 

[hammer]

ACE announced last night that there will be a second ticket mail sale in early October.

BTW, the presentation by Matt Lillard of Magic was really over-the top. Lots of interest by people who had "never head of the place". Lots of great ticket giveaways. Sounds like a bunch of "selective pruning" has been underway.

It's amazing how many people know of so few areas. Good buzz. I think I'm going to have to invite Burkie to a meeting. We've got Saddleback coming to speak next month and have some discount tix for Magic remaining.

After everything I read here about going to Magic for the advanced/expert trails, I never realized how much was available for novice/intermediate skiers...and I do like how they handle grooming (groom the greens and blues but leave the blacks alone).

Any chances of a club trip? Seems like a good place to go later in the season when the natural snow cover would (hopefully) be better.

 

[deadheadskier]

....wish I could've made it, maybe next one if business has me nearby. Tough to wrap up a work day and head an hour and fifteen minutes one way there.

 

[billski]

After everything I read here about going to Magic for the advanced/expert trails, I never realized how much was available for novice/intermediate skiers...and I do like how they handle grooming (groom the greens and blues but leave the blacks alone).

Any chances of a club trip? Seems like a good place to go later in the season when the natural snow cover would (hopefully) be better.

If they really get their snowmaking pipes fixed, there should be a lot more snow a lot earlier. The proof can only be when they fire it up for the first time. I was astonished to learn that some pipes actually ran UNDER the condos (and have been subsequently replaced because they couldn't be accessed!).

Now, getting a trip going there, that's a great idea, but we'll need a leader!

 

[frozencorn]

ACE announced last night that there will be a second ticket mail sale in early October.

Does this mean if someone who is not a member joins, say, today, he would be eligible for the ticket mail sale, or would he have to wait until next year?

 

[billski]

ACE announced last night that there will be a second ticket mail sale in early October.

Does this mean if someone who is not a member joins, say, today, he would be eligible for the ticket mail sale, or would he have to wait until next year?

You are good to go if you send your membership app in now or as late as the same time you send your ticket order in (the ticket order form isn't posted yet.) Ticket committee will cross-check with membership, so best to put your membership in ahead.

 

[deadheadskier]

October sale going to be the same as June?

 

[billski]

October sale going to be the same as June?

It will be the VT remainders of what wasn't already sold in June and at the Sept 15th meeting, plus other discount opportunities probably in NH . We usually just wait to see the form rather than predict. I only know for certain that Stowe, Sugarbush and Mt. Snow were sold out back in June.